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Ralph Clements
43 articles

The ol' pick-em-up truck

March 27, 2016 · in Automotive · · 11 · 2.7K

Happy Easter everyone!

I have built around 30 models in the past couple of years, mostly WWII aircraft plus a couple of ships and tanks. These are all interesting subjects for me, but I have no personal experience with them. I mean you know, I never flew a P-51 for example.
But I saw this kit in the hobby shop and said to myself: "Self, now there's something you and I can relate to, first hand experience, 1970's era pick up trucks, back when they were mostly metal and didn't have power windows, let alone built-in USB ports..."
So I bought this Moebius brand 1/25 scale 1971 Ranger. It is very similar to my first pickup truck, a 1974 model I got used around 1980. The canary yellow is the color of mine.To try and recreate that truck I made the camper top from scratch, using material from a re-useable (but not any more!) water bottle for the tinted windows, and Evergreen sheet styrene and HO scale Evergreen I-beams for the frame. The hydraulic cylinders for the tailgate are from the spares box - part of some planes landing gear.
I also outfitted this with the things usually found aboard my truck back in those days - banjo and guitar cases and a cooler full of ...'canned beverages', we'll say...
...off to go jam out on bluegrass!..Whooo Hoooo!...as they say...those were the days!...
If this model truck looks kinda warped and ill-fitting, that is pretty much realistic. The subject I am modelling, and it's owner back then, could all be decribed in those terms!

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


11 responses

  1. Love it, the real deal looks like you had a good time back then, and the truck brings back my own memories,
    Great build

  2. Nice job on that truck, Ralph...where'd ya get the stuff in the bed? You scratch build those as well..?

  3. Ralph, great work, looks about as real as you can get.

  4. Thats awsome..it takes me back to when I was a kit and pops would throw the three brothers in back..when that was legal..and we'd have a weekend camp out

  5. Ralph you did an amazing job on this one. My uncle drove one of these pick ups on his farm. He owned it for nearly 30 years!

  6. Thanks everyone. I've never built a Moebius kit before. It was hard to get some of the parts to fit. For example the windshield doesn't fit the opening right and it was impossible, for me anyway, to get all the motor parts to fit in the space allowed between the body, frame and radiator. I had to leave out a couple that couldn't be seen except on close inspection. Therefore if you wanted to drive this truck, it wouldn't start (no starter) and if it did you wouldn't get far as it would promptly overheat since there is no fan.

    I applaud the Moebius company for choosing the subject though.

  7. Wow, real modelling, Ralph, I've really enjoyed looking and reading about what you've done with this model, makes me wish I could get a kit of one of my own first real cars...

  8. Realistic build, great work on the scratch building..

  9. Fantastic! Modeling with a story (and accompanying emotions) is just the best there is. Not to mention a superb job on the build - looks incredibly realistic.

  10. Ralph, it looks lifelike, a working truck, daily driver. Love the cooler and the instrument cases. The camper top is a beaut, I was wondering if it came with the kit. It really adds to the build.

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